Wood veneer.



I. R. lVIcCLAIN.

WOOD VENEER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I3. I9I8 1,29%?4'7.v Patented Apr. 8,1919.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

ATTORN EY JOHN R. MCCLAIN, 0F EDGEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGrNOR T0 WESTINGHOUS ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

- woon VENEER. l

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led March 13, 1918. Serial No. 222,056.

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MCCLAIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Edgewood, in the county. of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inl Wood Veneers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the manufacture of plural-layer structures known asv compound lumber, and it has', for its primary object, to provide an inexpensive and eiiicient method of manufacture whereby exceptionally satisfactory and durable coin-- pound lumber may be produced.

Under present conditions, as known to` me, in making compound lumber, a so-called wet process is employed, a glue or equivalent adhesive, in a iiuid or semi-fluid state,`

faces of the sheets with a non-uniform co'atil ing. This results in non-uniformity of the finished product and a waste of the adhesive material as a surplus of such materialmust be used in order to insure the presence of an adhesive film between all parts of the ,surfaces to be united.

Furthermore, when an adhesive `is employed which hardens under heat and pres sure, such as one of the phenolic condensation products,-forinstance, bakelite, 'the solvent employedfor the adhesive is expensive, must be used in relatively large quantities and' is a total loss, being drivenvolf'byl the heat employed 'in hardening .the adhesive. In plural-layer wooden structures, also, the

'solvent `employed with the phenolic condensationproduct is, in part, absorbed .by

the wood 'and interferes with 'the proper curingor hardening of the adhesive, some1. times making the hardened adhesive porousl j in structure. This is caused by the driving' oi ofl the solvent, as lgases and vapors,

through the adhesive during curing` under heat. Y

With the Wet processes employed, considerable expense results' from the time and labor expended in brushing the liquid glue over the surfaces to be Joined. Furthermore, the resulting products may be defective because of a partial drying of the coated surfaces that sometimes occurs before the var ious sheets are assembled and the adhesive hardened.

My inventionbroadly consists in impregnating sheets of porous, and preferably fibrous, material, of any desired character, such as paper, fabricor a felted material, as, forexample cotton batting, with a predetermined percentage of the desired adhesive .and then employing a dried sheetof this impregnated material asa binding sheet or other material to be united.

' Obviously, the cost is materially reduced when a dry process of this character is pracyinterposing it between the'sheetsof wood Etised,'due to the'fact that the fibrous sheets l may be'treated in continuous rolls, by nia-.

chinery, being passed through av relatively I heavy solution of the" desired adhesive and,

between adjustable pressure rolls which force out e all, surplusadhesive and then throughw'a drying'ftower to drive oil" 'any4 solvent;v taken upy by the material.'

Inf-practising my invention, sheets of pref viously -impregnated fibrous material may be cut tothe exact size and shape of the;

layersof'wood or othermaterial to be united and be interposed between the opposed sur# faces of such layers. lThe stacked body, thus formed, may then b etreated ina suitable lmanner, as by the application of heat and pressure, to lrst soften the adhesive, to bring it into intimate contact with the lsurfaces tov beunited, andy to then harden it, so that a i fstrong bond betweensuchV surfaces vis provided., If a glue, which softens under heat and hardens lupon cooling, is employed, the

pressure, is cooled. If, onthe other1hand,.a

fas the-'adhesive or binder,the vstacked body isl sub] ected vto heat and 1 pressure toV firstsofstacked; or built-upLbody is first subjected to heat and ressure-and1then,=while'still underV v l phenoliccondensationproductis' employed the ressure rolls, all surplus adhesive willl be orced from the impregnated material so that an absolutely uniform and predetermined degree of impregnation may be quickly and economically attained. In addition to these features, the small amount of v solvent employed is removed in the drying tower previous to the use of the sheet material as a binder so that none of this solvent remains to be absorbed by the layers which are united to constitute the lfinished product with the result that tt send and uniform tomi will be provided between the layers ofwood or other material.

Besides these Ifeatures, the fibrous sheet material substantially increases the strength `of the finished product, particularly when layers of wood are united, as it provides a Strong, though thin, supporting sheet between the adjacent layers of wood. This tends to prevent any splitting or breaking away of any part of the lumber.

In'the drawings illustrative of my invention; Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken through a three-layer piece of comound lumber, in which the layers are joined suitable adhesive; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away -to show the several layers of wood and the several sheets of binding material; Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1 but illustrating the employment of adhesive-impregnated cotton battin as the binder material; Fig. 4 is a vertica sectional View taken through two sheets of wood and a binder sheet of adhesive impregnated fabric, showing the various sheets in superimposed but spaced relation to clearly bring out the method employed, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing how a surface'covering, for Wood or other 'materiah may be provided by utilizing my improved binder sheets.

In Figs. 1 and 2 Ivhave -illustrated a sample of compound lumber consisting of a plurality of sheets 10 of wood joined by binder sheets 11 Aformed of paper impregnated with a suitable adhesive, a phenolic condensation product being preferred. As

f together.

y a binder sheet comprising paper and a` shown in Figa-2, the direction of the grain of the wood 1s at substantially right angles 4in the .successive sheets embodied in the structure, as is common in the manufactureI ofcompound lumber. This obviously gives added strength to the completed structure and tends to prevent warping.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated a structure including the various layers or sheets of wood 10 united by interposed binder sheets 12 of cotton battin impregnated with a suitable adhesive, sucIi as a phenolic condensation product.

The method of forming such structures is best illustrated in Fig. 4 which shows a binder sheet 13 of fabric, impregnated with an adhesive, such as a phenolic condensation product, interposed between two strips or sheets of wood 10, the 'binder sheets being cut to the size andshape of the wooden sheets. of the wooden sheets and the other wooden sheet is placed upon it. The structure, thus provided, is then subjected to the combined action of heat andpressure until the phenolic condensation product has first softened to intimately engage the wooden sheets and has then hardened to firmly join the layers Obviously, any number of sheets of wood or other material may be employed and the grain of the wood may be disposed in any desired direction in the Various layers.

It is to be understood that my invention is adapted 'and intended for use in joining together solid bodies of any desired form and dimensions and of any physical and chemical composition and characteristics; the' term compound lumber, whichI have employed to designate the product of my method, being intended to cover and. include all plurallayer products, the layers of which are joined together iby a binder-impregnated sheet that is applied in an inert state and then made active, provided, of course, that the united bodies, Whether of like or unlike thickness, shall be thicker than the binder sheet, which constitutes apart ofthe structure only in the sense and to the extent that it is a uniting agent.

My improved binder sheets, in addition to their use in forming compound lumber, may also be employed with great success as surfacing shcets for structures of Wood and other materials. Oftentimes it is advisable to provide the surface of a wooden structure, such, for instance, as a table, with a moisture, oil and acidproof covering. This may be done, as shown in Fig. 5,.by applying a sheet 14 of fibrous material impregnated with a phenolic condensation product as a binder, to the surface to be protected and v An oiled metal plate placed against the exposed surface of the sheet 14 during this hardening of the binder, willy insure a highly polished smooth surface that may have any desired color or colors by the addition of suitable coloring material or materials to the liquid binder with which the sheet material is impregnated.

Obviously, my method of building compound lumber is susceptible of modifications not specifically set forth and, consequently, no limitations are to be imposed upon my invention that are not set forth. in the claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of making compound lumber which comprises positioning inert binderimpregnated sheet material, between bodies of material to be united and treating the assembled elements to rende-r the binder active.

2. The process of producing compound lumber which comprises interposing a binder-impregnated ibrous material (the binder being in an inert state) between layers of non-adhesive material to be united and applying heat and pressure to rst render-fthe binder active and then to harden it and unite the layers.

3. The process of producing compound lumber which comprises interposing an inert binder-impregnated and driedsheet of fibrous material between layers of nonadhesive material to be united, rendering the binder active and applying pressure to cause unitiirg1 of the layers.

4. e process of producing compound lumber which comprises interposing a fibrous sheet, impregnated with a phenolic condensation product in an inert condition, between layers of non-adhesive material to be united and applying heat and pressure to the article to rst soften the condensation'produet and thus make it active and to thereafter harden it.

5. The method of uniting a solid -nonadhesive body and a binder-impregnated and dried sheet of fibrous material which consists in placing said body and said sheet in surface engagement and then applying heat and pressure to cure and harden the blnder and to compact the sheet.

6. The method of unitin a solid nonadhesive body and an inertgbinder-impregnated and dried sheet of fibrous material which consists in Iassembling said body and sheet in surface engagement and then applying heat and pressure to render the binder active an'd efect an inseparable union between the sheet and the non-adhesive body.

In testimony whereof, I` have hereunto subscribed my name this 28th day of Feb. 1918.

' JOHN R. MCCLAIN. 

